United Nations

The wildfires burning across Europe and North America highlight the urgent need for action now – as climate change, land-use pressures and human activity make severe fires more likely in the future. 

Aid workers and first responders raced to help people across Ukraine after a wave of deadly Russian missile and drone strikes overnight as concerns mounted over military activity near nuclear power plants on Thursday.

Afghans returning from neighbouring countries are facing growing risks of human trafficking and exploitation as overlapping humanitarian and economic crises leave many struggling to survive, the UN warned on Thursday.

Independent UN experts on Wednesday called for urgent action to support Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh after reports indicated two boats carrying more than 500 passengers may have capsized off the coast of Myanmar in mid-July.

The United Nations Secretary-General said on Wednesday that he plans to convene fresh talks on Cyprus to resolve the decades-long division on the Mediterranean island, stressing that the moment calls for rebuilding trust between its two communities. 

The UN emergency food agency appealed for immediate funding on Wednesday, warning that deepening hunger is undermining the response to an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) that has now infected more than 3,200 people.

Violence in the occupied West Bank is worsening as the Israeli Government continues to approve new settlements while settlers and Israeli security forces have “often” acted together to attack local Palestinian communities, the UN’s human rights office (OHCHR) warned on Wednesday.

From the peaks of Mount Olympus in Greece to the shores of the “D-Day” beaches in France, 25 cultural or natural landmarks from across the globe have been newly inscribed on the World Heritage List, updated annually by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Climate-driven disasters are reaching “nightmare proportions” due to humanity’s “addiction” to fossil fuels, a top UN official warned on Tuesday.

Years of progress in tackling HIV, viral hepatitis and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are at risk of stalling, leaving millions of people without access to life-saving prevention, testing and treatment, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned.

A woman is stopped for buying groceries alone. The shopkeeper who served her is slapped and hauled in for questioning. A teacher is turned away from her own classroom for wearing the wrong cloak.  

A job advert can hide a criminal network, and a single click can lead to a nightmare. Hundreds of thousands of people are trafficked every year on the promise of legitimate work abroad, only to be held captive and forced into online scam operations.

Regional tensions are mounting as the US-Iran war continues and a rising number of Israeli attacks are threatening Gaza’s fragile October ceasefire that ended two years of war with Hamas. Security Council members heard briefings followed by an open debate on Tuesday. UN News app users click here for live coverage.

As the world marks the 75th anniversary of the Refugee Convention, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) has launched a global campaign urging governments, organizations and individuals to renew their commitment to protecting people forced to flee war, violence and persecution.

UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk expressed concern about ongoing displacement and destruction caused by Israeli strikes against Lebanon as he concluded a two-day visit to the country on Monday.

The United Nations continues to monitor developments in the Occupied Palestinian Territory amid rising violence and greater restrictions in the occupied West Bank.

The AIDS epidemic could stage a comeback amid unequal access to breakthrough prevention medicines and a sharp decline in global funding, according to a UN report released on Monday ahead of the opening of the 26th International AIDS Conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

More than 2,000 rescue workers from 27 countries have been deployed to Venezuela to locate people trapped under the rubble following the twin earthquakes on Wednesday, in a deployment supported and coordinated by the United Nations. 

The new head of the UN mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has urged parties to the peace processes for the volatile eastern region to maintain momentum and fully implement their commitments.

More than 2,600 people were displaced in the Artibonite department of Haiti following clashes between armed groups last week as the humanitarian situation continues to worsen, according to the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance (OCHA).